


wildflowers blossom

by yaoyorozoops



Series: AU-gust 2020 [14]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 19th Century, Angst, Blood, F/F, Hanahaki Disease
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-08-24
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:42:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26081377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaoyorozoops/pseuds/yaoyorozoops
Summary: when catra attends a debutante ball she sees someone she never thought she’d see again.
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra)
Series: AU-gust 2020 [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862572
Kudos: 36





	wildflowers blossom

They sit alone, side by side. A petal from a distant rose in a vase falls down to the floor. 

  
  
  


A young woman named Catra tightened her hair into a bun. She was quite jittery before any sort of social gathering and especially one she had been forced to go to. Her mother was quite formal and stern, so Catra had to wear her formal dress and shoes, despite hating both those things fervently. At least there would be food, along with a few quiet places to talk with her friends alone. She hoped to god her mother wouldn’t make her dance.

Adora, on the other hand, was overly excited. Her parents had been planning this ball for her entire life. She loved the idea of the ball, and every night for the past month she’d practiced dancing.

Neither of them knew the other would be there. Catra didn’t care enough to listen to her mother when she told her who was throwing the ball, and Adora’s family didn’t bother to tell her the guest’s list; there would be too many guests to name.

The ball started at dusk, on a warm summer night. Adora prepared all day, dancing, practicing her walk, and dressing in her floor-length white gown. She felt like a princess, and it made her glow with joy.

When she arrived, she met her friends with the happiest look on her face. It may have just been the most excited she’d been. That is, until, about an hour into the gathering she saw a familiar face. Not a friend, not really. Someone she’d known a long time ago.

  
  


“Mother, stop,” Catra growled as her mother fixed her hair. She kept smoothing her daughter’s hair down until they were close to the venue, and she straightened her own hair a bit before they entered. They were late but made it in time to see the debutante’s dance routine. Catra spotted  _ her _ across the floor almost immediately; she was in the center, after all.

She avoided Adora at first.  _ Maybe it’s not her, it has been a while, she’s aged,  _ she thought. Plus, she couldn’t bare talking to her. Not after all these years. But, of course it was her. She was older, yes, but her eyes and her goddamn  _ smile _ stayed the same as Catra remembered.

“Catra?”

That voice sounded so nostalgic that it made Catra’s heart ache. She turned around, seething with annoyance. “Hey, Adora.”

Adora was hit with the same feelings. Maybe she, too, had been doubting whether it was actually her old friend she saw, but her eyes widened in surprise. “It is you,” she said, her voice still sounded bright, excited.

“And it’s you,” Catra’s voice was the opposite: gruff, cheerless. It didn’t catch Adora off guard, though. This was exactly as she remembered Catra.

“Who’s this?” Catra saw a boy walk up to them, a shorter girl behind him.

Adora flipped around to face them, almost hiding Catra. “Just an old friend.”

Catra groaned at this and pushed past Adora and her friends. She wanted so badly to leave. Unfortunately for her, there’s no way her mother would let her.

“Catra, wait!” Adora forgot for a minute that this was her party. All she could focus on was Catra. After all, when would they ever see each other again if they parted ways now?

She didn’t wait. Instead, she headed to the hall to find someplace to sit where everyone would just leave her alone.

“Wait here. I’ll go talk to her,” Adora told Bow and Glimmer, and they obliged, although not too happily. She found Catra close down the hall, sitting with her dress tucked beneath her. She was angrily trying to remove her heels.

“Need some help?”

“Not from you.”

Adora sat down next to Catra, careful not to crease her dress. “How have you been?”

Catra closed her eyes, growling and biting her tongue. “I don’t want to talk.”

“Why not?”

She fell backward, leaning against the wall. “Ugh. I just don’t.”

“Okay, okay. Fine.” Adora stood, but held a hand to Catra. “I’ll leave you alone. If you dance with me.”

“No. No way.” Catra pushed Adora’s hand away and stood on her own. Then she saw those eyes, staring at her sadly, begging.

“Well then, what is your mother doing right now?” Adora had a glint in her eye that made Catra grind her teeth. And she took the hand.

  
  


“What happened?” Glimmer whispered as they returned to the party, hand-in-hand.

“She’s going to dance with me,” Adora returned, smirking.

Glimmer and Bow exchanged surprised looks as Adora dragged Catra onto the dance floor.

“Oh, god. Why did I do this?”

Adora began by placing a hand on Catra’s hip and leading her to help her get a hang of the dance. “Aw, you missed me. I know you did.”

Catra rolled her eyes, avoiding eye contact. She wasn’t exactly resisting the dance, though.

All eyes were on the two of them as they danced. Adora led masterfully, every step perfect, with Catra in tandem, although less experienced. Adora looked stunning with her golden hair, long, flowing dress, and her beaming smile. Catra couldn’t keep her eyes off of her as soon as she started to smile. It was Adora’s dream to dance like this, and she was overjoyed. She never imagined it would be with her old friend, either.

Then, the song ended. The band began to play something else, and Adora was still high on happiness. Catra, on the other hand, was brought back to reality. “Adora.”

She looked up, still holding Catra, but much more still now. “Yeah?”

“Why did you leave?”

Adora knew exactly what she meant, but she wished she didn’t. “I didn’t leave. I had to get away. I didn’t choose to--”

“You could’ve stayed. You could have visited me. Why didn’t you visit?”

Adora’s face was now twisted in horrible regret and sorrow, and all the eyes of the crowd had turned away. “I was just a kid. How was I supposed to do anything?”

“I was just a kid too.” Suddenly Catra felt a familiar feeling in her stomach, closed her eyes, took her hands off Adora, and ran. Ran back, far away from anyone she knew, anyone at all.

She’d been sick for a while, but it hadn’t been this bad in years, not since--

  
She coughed over and over, trying to suppress the sound with her hand. Finally, she made it to the bathroom and the sheer size of it kept her mouth agape. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stare in awe for too long, because her lungs stung again and she felt more coughs working their way up her esophagus.  _ Not since Adora. _ Each time Catra pictured her, the way she looked now, a  _ woman _ not a  _ girl _ it made her lungs and her heart ache and-- the couching got worse until finally, she could taste blood, metallic and sour in her mouth and she spat it out into the perfect porcelain sink. She sighed, and tears, not just from the pain in her lungs, welled into her eyes. She knew what this meant, but really  _ really _ didn’t like it. It meant she was, once again, in love with Adora.

**Author's Note:**

> When there was a prompt for the 19th century I thought of debutante balls but apparently they’re still going on so?? Take this with a grain of salt, it’s probably not accurately set in the 1800s.


End file.
